Ben Ashkenazy’s Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation and Ralph Tawil’s Centurion Realty jointly paid $40 million for a three-level retail condominium at the base of a nine-story apartment building in Nolita, The Real Deal has learned.

The 30,000-square-foot retail component at 285 Lafayette Street — near Jersey Street and just south of Jared Kushner’s Puck Building – is home to seven tenants. The New York Public Library’s Mulberry Street branch occupies 16,100 square feet across three floors, under a lease deal expiring in 2021. Other tenants include cosmetics retailer Santa Maria Novella and clothier American Apparel, which is due to vacate its 7,000-square-foot space by early next year.

Ashkenazy is planning a long-term hold on the retail spaces, Daniel Levy, partner at the development firm, told TRD.

Several national tenants expressed interest in American Apparel’s space while the deal was in contract, Levy said. Ashkenazy and Centurion signed a contract in May. The deal closed today.

Allied Partners, led by Richard Hadar’s son Eric Hadar, converted the loft building into condominiums in 1999. The nearly 118,000-square-foot structure holds 30 apartments. Character actor Saul Rubinek sold his three-bedroom home in the building over the summer, as TRD reported.

Ashkenazy and Centurion recently did a deal together in which Ashkenazy acquired two retail buildings near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown from Centurion for $40 million, according to TRD.